Does anyone follow keto for Epilepsy?

Helen_805

Hi, I'm Helen and I'm 32. I have 48 lbs to loose. I'm very short, so the extra pounds are extremely unforgiving. I just started my diet/exercise today and restarted myfitnesspal altogether for a fresh slate. I have dieted like a yo-yo over the last few years and I'm tired of never reaching my goal.
I am also epileptic, so my medications have taken a toll on my metabolism, memory and weight. I know that exercising again will help all of those things. so I need this on so many levels.
I've heard many times, and seen on my Dr. Notes that following a keto diet is recommended for epilepsy but I don't really understand it, or how I'd loose weight with it. I also try to follow clean eating diet as much as possible.
Any advice is much appreciated. Thank you!!

kirkor

This might be information-overload, but this page is pretty cool:
http://josepharcita.blogspot.com/2011/03/guide-to-ketosis.html

Jimmy Moore's podcasts may be of interest: http://livinlavidalowcarb.com/blog/

Fii__

I was confused about how it works too, until a friend on a LowCarbHighFat forum told me this in "layman" terms (direct quote from them):
"High carb makes your body produce insulin. Insulin prevents your body from releasing energy from your fat into your body cells. There for you get hungry because your body cells are not receiving energy from your fat cells. Therefore you get more hungry and you eat more carbs, and get more fat. With LCHF diet, you are not dependent on carbs for energy, instead your body relies on fat for energy. Humans have always relied on eating food on high fat, that is why it taste good to us. Cholesterol is the building block of life and that is how we get it from, animal fat. The whole idea of carbs and low fat was due to the false theory that cholesterol is the culprit of heart disease. In reality, cholesterol is actually healing the arteries that are damaged. Stress, high blood pressure, and high glucose levels on the blood oxidises the cholesterol and turns in to tar. Blaming cholesterol for heart disease is like blaming fireman for causing fires. Every time there is fire or an emergency, you call them the fire fighters. If you use the same logic for cholesterol, you will blame the firefighters for the fires. Therefor you should stop calling them to stop the fires from occurring. So yeah, you are relying on fat for energy instead of sugar."

DittoDan

If you haven't seen the wonderful movie that Meryl Streep made about this subject, you can watch it for free on YouTube:

First, Do No Harm

It a great movie. Heartwarming and Ketogenic to boot.

Enjoy!

I hope this helps,

Dan the Man from Michigan

Dragonwolf

Another thing to note is that ketogenic diets improve epilepsy independent of things like weight loss. This was actually a big reason why the ketogenic diet was created and has been widely studied. So make sure you work with your doctor, so you can decrease your meds properly.

This works for a similar reason why it works for weight loss -- it makes your body rely more on fat and ketones than on glucose for fuel.

The problem with glucose is that it's basically jet fuel -- burns hot and fast, but can damage the system if too much is used in a system not designed specifically for it. Our bodies aren't designed to run off glucose 100% of the time. They're arguably not designed to run off glucose more than about 20-50% of the time. The USDA recommendations of 50% or more of our calories coming from carbohydrates and 20% or less from fat makes our body run off glucose nearly all of the time (especially when combined with that whole "eat 6 times a day" inanity).

Like I said, glucose is jet fuel. And chronically high levels of glucose start damaging the nervous system. This is why people with uncontrolled Diabetes are at risk for developing neuropathy (damaged nerve fibers, most commonly in the legs and feet), blindness, gastroparesis (delayed gastric emptying, due the nerves in the valves getting damaged), and more. There's growing evidence that Alzheimer's has the same underlying cause.

For some people, their system is essentially more sensitive to the negative effects of glucose. Such as the case of those with epilepsy. In the case of epilepsy, glucose is too volatile a fuel for use in as high a percentage as what the USDA recommends. This is where keto comes in. Keto restricts dietary carbohydrate intake such that the body has to rely primarily on ketones -- the byproduct of burning fat (either dietary or stored) -- and use the smallest amount of glucose as possible. The brain still needs a little glucose, but the body can make it if there's not enough coming from the diet, and when the body makes most of it, it can regulate the amount far better, making it less likely to trigger a seizure.

As for understanding it, that's going to depend on what your definition is of "clean eating." Unfortunately, there are too many differences from one person to another to definitively know what your diet looks like.

If your definition of "clean eating" includes "low fat" or "not animals," then you're in for a big adjustment, because keto is the opposite of that. However, fat and animals can very much be part of a "clean eating" diet. Most functional LCHF/keto diets favor minimally processed sources already -- coconut oil, avocado oil, and similar oils that can be obtained from non-GMO and cold-pressed sources are generally favored over canola and other "vegetable" and industrial seed oils, which are generally GMO, monoculture, and chemically extracted and refined; animal fats are favored, as well, because they don't take much processing (you can render your own lard and tallow from fat scraps from cuts, for example), and don't break down when heated as easily as industrial seed oils, due to the different fatty acid compositions. You can go a step further and get pastured animals (avoiding the the crap they give to factory farmed animals), though that's entirely up to you.

You should also join the Low Carber Daily group -- http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/394-low-carber-daily-forum-the-lcd-group -- it's a great place for beginners and the mods are working on a bunch of guides to consolidate information. The sticky has links to a bunch of resources for getting started in general and should answer a number of the questions you probably have.

DittoDan

Dragon, what a great analogy! Thanks for your great post...

Dan the Man from Michigan

sweetteadrinker2

I'm following for a different nervous system condition. The way my cardiologist put it was, "it'll make your nerves calm the *kitten* down so you can lose weight and digest things again"

radiii

sweetteadrinker2 wrote: »

I'm following for a different nervous system condition. The way my cardiologist put it was, "it'll make your nerves calm the *kitten* down so you can lose weight and digest things again"

Do you have any more info about this. Is he just talking about something with keto and your gut/digestion or in general?

The reason I ask is hearing some similar phrasing for some unrelated issues I have. My physical therapist has described something she thinks has happened to me as part of a response to chronic pain, in laymans terms as my "central nervous system being in overdrive" to the point that I probably feel some totally normal functions as discomfort/pain.

I assume its different but I'm curious.

Dragonwolf

radiii wrote: »

sweetteadrinker2 wrote: »

I'm following for a different nervous system condition. The way my cardiologist put it was, "it'll make your nerves calm the *kitten* down so you can lose weight and digest things again"

Do you have any more info about this. Is he just talking about something with keto and your gut/digestion or in general?

The reason I ask is hearing some similar phrasing for some unrelated issues I have. My physical therapist has described something she thinks has happened to me as part of a response to chronic pain, in laymans terms as my "central nervous system being in overdrive" to the point that I probably feel some totally normal functions as discomfort/pain.

I assume its different but I'm curious.

It goes back to what I was talking about earlier with regard to glucose attacking the neurological system and nerves. The only difference is that it affects your body nerves, while it affects the OP's brain nerves more. Still the same idea.

Keto's been studied most for epilepsy, but it's shown promise for other neurological issues, including migraines, fibro, and chronic pain disorders.

sweetteadrinker2

radiii wrote: »

sweetteadrinker2 wrote: »

I'm following for a different nervous system condition. The way my cardiologist put it was, "it'll make your nerves calm the *kitten* down so you can lose weight and digest things again"

Do you have any more info about this. Is he just talking about something with keto and your gut/digestion or in general?

The reason I ask is hearing some similar phrasing for some unrelated issues I have. My physical therapist has described something she thinks has happened to me as part of a response to chronic pain, in laymans terms as my "central nervous system being in overdrive" to the point that I probably feel some totally normal functions as discomfort/pain.

I assume its different but I'm curious.

Funny, I've been told that by a PT too. Do you by chance have the condition Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS)? Because I have that in addition to/in conjunction with dysautonomia which effects all areas of the body, mine just happens to be focused in my gut and cardiovascular system the most. And keto was strongly recommended by several doctors to treat and HEAL the nerves that have undergone damage from my conditions. So far I've gone from not being able to eat anything but chicken/fish to eating all the meats imaginable, and being not nauseated, and not in constant pain.

radiii

sweetteadrinker2 wrote: »

Funny, I've been told that by a PT too. Do you by chance have the condition Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS)?

Nope, I have some kind of undiagnosed/generalised Pelvic Floor Dysfunction. An odd mix of fairly random bowel/bladder/sexual pain/discomfort symptoms. The theory that PT mentioned is that I had a couple traumatic things happen (a couple really bad/painful infections in that area) and my body's response was to become hyperaware of everything in that system, even perfectly normal "bathroom functions", to try to limit the TMI going on here. But nothing's officially diagnosed, we've just discussed 100 different things and attacked 100 different things over the last few months as we've worked on the problems.

I've been on keto a year, and never noticed any changes in my symptoms with diet changes. But I had some pretty bad legit physical problems that likely caused/exacerbated my issues (postural issues/inactivity over a decade+) leading to shortened/tightened muscles in that area. With PT I've been working extremely hard on those obvious issues. I have seen some very notable improvement in PT, and perhaps the fact that I've been keto adapted for a full year has given me a boost or made it easier. Who knows.